New York State Common Retirement Fund Grows Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 27.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 96,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,041 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $28,253,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in MarketAxess by 316.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 11,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,367,000 after acquiring an additional 8,771 shares during the last quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,715,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 28,547.8% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 13,178 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,859,000 after acquiring an additional 13,132 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 91,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,622,000 after acquiring an additional 3,024 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,705,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $364,462,000 after acquiring an additional 33,288 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CRO Kevin M. Mcpherson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.26, for a total value of $442,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 70,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,508,555.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

MarketAxess Price Performance

MKTX stock opened at $201.58 on Friday. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $199.34 and a 1-year high of $324.97. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $215.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $237.11. The firm has a market cap of $7.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.43, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.98.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.11. MarketAxess had a net margin of 34.29% and a return on equity of 21.76%. The business had revenue of $197.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.58 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of MarketAxess in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $199.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $263.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $278.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of MarketAxess from $239.00 to $236.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $252.80.

MarketAxess Profile

MarketAxess Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates an electronic trading platform for institutional investor and broker-dealer companies worldwide. The company offers trading technology that provides liquidity access in U.S. high-grade bonds, U.S. high-yield bonds, emerging market debt, eurobonds, municipal bonds, U.S.